𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞 - 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐊𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐢 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐒𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐬𝐚 𝐊𝐢𝐲𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐢 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐢𝐦
One: He was truly exceptional at volleyball.
During the latter half of Chiharu's second year, he was pleased to learn that he'd been invited to the All-Japan Training Camp for volleyball players in their first and second years of high school. Having attended the previous year's camp as a freshman, he took pride in maintaining the coaches' interests enough to secure a second invitation.
Chiharu had heard the praise surrounding Sakusa, the nationally ranked Ace that was only a first year, but Chiharu had to see it in person to comprehend the extent of Sakusa's ability.
It was at this camp that he first saw the neat black curls sitting on top of elegantly contoured features. He was tall and slender, clearly having hit his growth spurts in recent years. But he managed to maintain an lean, athletic build. One could figure out that Sakusa was highly skilled just from the way he carried himself. Even as a scrawny first-year, his movements were methodical, and he paid attention to intricate detail on and off the court. He seemed like a seasoned pro even with just the way he taped his fingers or tied his shoelaces.
Often his face was covered by a neat, white mask. Covered in a way that was almost mysterious, offering only glimpses of Sakusa's sunken dark eyes, sharp brows, and distinctive moles in the arrangement of a semi-colon. But whenever he was playing volleyball, the mask would be neatly secured on the handle on his water bottle.
Sakusa's face, in all its glory, was almost intimidating. It was striking— a sharp jaw, angular nose, and well-sculpted mouth. Although, Chiharu snickered to himself whenever he realized that this tough, formidable Ace still had baby-fat on his cheeks. He was only fifteen after all.
His skill certainly didn't reflect his young age. His serves, delivered with calculated force, struck the court in the most inconvenient spots, leaving his opponents scrambling to respond. Chiharu was a consistent, reliable libero, but Sakusa had managed to score a service ace on him in scrimmage. A service ace against six All-Japan players on that side of the court, for that matter. His defense was equally formidable. His swift blocks were like an imposing wall. Even when they weren't shutting out attacks entirely, he'd managed to get a one-touch on almost every spike that came his way.
And ultimately, his spikes had what could only be described as clinical precision. Chiharu prided himself in being able to read his opponents quite well, so he would typically end up right behind they chose to place their attack. The reachability was not the problem here.
The first time Chiharu found himself under one of Sakusa's spikes, he found himself utterly off balance under the ruthless spin. Countering the whirlwind of rotations that the ball made as it contacted his forearms, his arms burned from the friction and impact, ultimately causing him to lose his footing and tumble to the ground.
The reverberation of Sakusa's spike lingered in Chiharu's muscles long after he'd regained his footing. As Chiharu dusted himself off, he couldn't help the swirl of awe and admiration in his stomach. Sakusa wasn't just any formidable opponent; he was scary because Chiharu saw himself in him. He saw, in Sakusa, the embodiment of dedication and hard-work, and countless repetition of practice and refinement that have pushed him beyond his limits because that was the only possible explanation to how he ended up with his skillset. In that moment, Chiharu swore an oath that he was going to play a real match against Sakusa one day. It transcended his usual fixation on victory. All he wanted to do was play a match to the fullest extent of his ability, to see what it was like at the pinnacle of volleyball excellence.
⌜ • ° + ° • ⌝
Two: He was, in fact, not a germaphobe.
The first conversation Chiharu ever had with Sakusa occurred in the showers in the Ajinomoto training center, after the first day of All-Japan. Chiharu would be lying if he said he didn't find that fact hilarious. Here was an athlete he admired greatly, and they were both half-naked.
The shower room was presumed to be empty at the time that Chiharu strolled in with a only towel around his waist, swinging around a pouch carrying his travel-sized shower essentials. He'd wolfed down his dinner and ditched his friends to shower with some alone time and wind-down before bed.
He was reaching to turn on the shower-head in one stall before he heard a loud sigh behind him. Chiharu jumped and whipped his head around. "Shit, you scared me!" He complained to the stranger before recognizing the dark curls. "Sakusa?" Chiharu tilted his head. The ace was was seated on the tiny bench attached to his shower stall with a hunched back and a pitiful look on his face. His shower was off, and he was completely dry, bundled in several white towels and looking like a pretty convincing snowman.
"You scared me," Chiharu said again, this time with a chuckle to lighten the mood, "I didn't think anyone was in here."
Sakusa, head hung low, spared Chiharu only a glance under furrowed eyebrows before returning to his active moping. "Hey, what's wrong?" Chiharu asked. Truly, he was worried. He found himself quite fond of Sakusa, despite never having spoken to him before now. "Come on, maybe I can help." He prodded when the first-year gave him no answer.
Just as Chiharu was about to give up and leave him alone, Sakusa grumbled a quiet, "I left my shampoo at home." And he wouldn't be able to return home for another week.
In any other scenario, Chiharu would've laughed at him. But seeing as Sakusa seemed genuinely upset at himself, Chiharu spared him further embarrassment. "Well, that's an easy solution," the libero reached into his own bag for a tiny clear bottle and offered it, "You can use mine. I brought extra."
Sakusa threw a skeptical glare at the bottle in Chiharu's extended hand, then looked him up and down. Admittedly, this made Chiharu a little nervous to realize he had but a towel and was otherwise without any cover. "What brand?" Sakusa asked with obvious suspicion in his voice, doubting that Chiharu even knew what kind of shampoo he'd been putting in his hair.
Chiharu, happy that he was able to subvert Sakusa's expectations, proudly stated, "It's Aveda's rosemary mint." In fact he could elaborate on, "My favorite, actually. Not to nerd-out about shampoo, but I like to experiment with different kinds. I find that this one cleans your hair really well. It smells good too. A bit on the pricier side but totally worth it."
The younger raised an eyebrow.
Immediately, Chiharu was nervous again. "Sorry. All I'm saying is: it's great, trust me." He cringed a little at his own words.
Just as Chiharu thought he'd completely weirded him out, Sakusa let out a tiny chuckle. "I really appreciate it, Konishi-san." He reached to accept the shampoo from Chiharu's hand, fingers grazing slightly against Chiharu's.
Chiharu was just surprised Sakusa knew him at all. "You know my name?" He blurted.
"Of course I do. I watched your team's match against Itachiyama at last year's Interhigh." Sakusa stated easily.
"We destroyed you guys." Chiharu smirked. "Well, I guess not you because you were in Junior High." He corrected.
"That was what made me go to Itachiyama, actually. I was confident that if I'd been there, they would've won." The ace threw out the claim nonchalantly, finally getting out of his snowman state to turn on his shower.
Sensing a wrap of their conversation, Chiharu crossed his arms, declaring, "Don't get cocky, Sakusa. I'll make sure you never score with me on the court."
"I aced on you earlier today."
"Uh- then I'll make sure you never score on me again." Chiharu amended begrudgingly, before walking away to take his shower. And he did so with a dumb smile on his face, glad to have made a connection with Sakusa.
"Your curls look great. My shampoo did wonders, didn't it?" Chiharu caught up with Sakusa as they exited the shower room. Athletes were just now piling in, shower stalls now mostly occupied, contrasting its earlier emptiness.
They lingered outside, idly chatting as Chiharu waited on his friend and captain, Kiryu.
At one point, Sakusa turned to toward Chiharu, a genuine look on his face. "Thank you again for saving my hair." He said, and leaned close to pull Chiharu into a hug.
Chiharu found that it was pretty strange for Sakusa to express gratitude through a hug, especially considering they'd just met. But who cared about what was socially appropriate? Chiharu was definitely not complaining, because he was glad to feel close to Sakusa. In fact, he'd never felt such a strong desire to be close to someone before. He couldn't help but smile at the fact that Sakusa's hair now carried the scent of his shampoo.
"Always, Sakusa." Chiharu reassured. As he pulled away from the warm hug, he wanted to catch if Sakusa was smiling. He soon realized the mask obscuring his features, prompting him into deep thought.
Seeing Chiharu's pondering face, Sakusa immediately asked, "What?"
"I just... thought you weren't into hugs. You seem hesitant even with a pat on the back." The libero shrugged, "And you always wear a mask, so I figured you'd be more germaphobic."
Sakusa sighed, like he'd heard similar remarks many times before. When Chiharu saw his reaction and went to apologize for being blunt, Sakusa waved him off. "Don't worry, you didn't offend me." He explained, "I like to be cautious because I don't like being sick. I just have a hard time trusting that people around me aren't carrying a bunch of diseases so I'm not the biggest fan of contact most of the time. Germaphobic? Maybe a little, but I'd rather see it as just me preferring to be clean. It's the same as how I stretch thoroughly before playing because I prefer to stay uninjured."
"A lot of people don't think too hard about this stuff. It's actually kind of cool that you do." Just as Chiharu thought this first-year couldn't pique his interest even more.
"Yes, but I'm pretty sure it all boils down to me having trust issues." Sakusa lamented honestly.
Chiharu paused for a moment, considering. "But..." He began to question, "you trust me enough to hug me because I gave you some shampoo?"
"Not for that alone, no." The ace clarified, "I get a general idea of people's cleanliness from looking closely: noticing details like how you don't have lint on your clothes, you use more than the bare minimum of hair products, and you wash and dry your hands properly after volleyball." Chiharu was slightly surprised by the level of attention Sakusa must've paid not only to him, but also to everyone around him.
He was able to gain a better grasp on Sakusa's tendencies and was relieved that the younger player wasn't just irrationally afraid to have others approach him. Sakusa's meticulous attention to detail mirrored his methodical playing style on the court. And perhaps this interesting fact had made Chiharu a little more fond of the Sakusa.
⌜ • ° + ° • ⌝
Three: he was really fun to talk to.
At the end of the training camp week, Chiharu found himself on first-name basis with Sakusa and managed to exchange numbers with him. How he achieved this, he had no clue, other than the fact that he felt an inexplicable urge to get closer to Kiyoomi.
Kiyoomi understood Chiharu's references to obscure internet cat videos. And they joked that watching those was their only hobby outside of volleyball.
They laughed about a lot of things together. Whenever they were on break from volleyball training, they would delve into various topics about their teammates, their home lives, and other miscellaneous things. There was not a single boring moment. Chiharu quite liked the sound of Kiyoomi's laugh. The ace's usual presence was cool and composed, but his laugh brought warmth to Chiharu every time he heard it.
Nevertheless, they went back to their respective homes after the camp, and went on with their lives ten hours apart from each other. Aside from occasional text or call, their communication was radio silent most of the time.
The next time they saw each other was at the Spring National tournament in Tokyo. Chiharu had been nervous that their conversations would become awkward seeing as they hadn't seen each other and had barely spoken in months, but it seemed that they picked up right where they left off.
It was when Kiyoomi immediately noticed and marveled at Chiharu's newly pierced ears and slightly grown-out hair that Chiharu realized something about himself: he had a massive crush on Kiyoomi.
⌜ • ° + ° • ⌝
Author's Note ——
I decided to add in prologue for this fic like more than a year after the first chapter was published. Hopefully this makes the story flow better rather than throw it off. The structure of this chapter was based off of Jack Will's pov from Wonder. Anyway I'll edit this eventually... I'm currently so tired that I can't tell whether Haru being shirtless for half of this chapter is hilarious or a terribly dumb idea. Currently my vote is for 'hilarious'.